Inadmissible: Fracking Ban

One oil and gas issue that could spark litigation in the coming years arises from the prospect that a local government could ban energy companies from using hydraulic fracturing. Discussion of that issue was front and center during a Sept. 20 panel at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. Moderator Jim Malewitz, the energy reporter for The Texas Tribune, noted that there’s an “interesting discussion” going on in Denton, which could become the first city in Texas to ban hydraulic fracturing, commonly called “fracking.” Denton residents will vote on the ban in November. Denton Mayor Chris Watts, one of the panelists, said that upon discovery of the Barnett Shale, along with new drilling techniques and state policies that encouraged drilling, the city saw increased drilling activity within the urban environment. Denton now has 255 wells, noted Watts. When drilling arrived in people’s backyards, a grassroots movement arose to address it, explained Watts. Residents successfully brought a petition to put the proposed fracking ban before the city council in July. The council didn’t approve it, instead opting to let voters decide on the November ballot, he said. But Ed Ireland, executive director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, said that in 2000, oil and gas companies obtained drilling permits for “pad sites” that were in the middle of nowhere at that time. But the city grew that way, and houses were built surrounding the permitted pad sites. Ireland said the city’s permitting processes created a conflict as the homeowners and the oil and gas companies both attempted to exercise their property rights. But Watts replied, “No way is everyone trying to say, ‘One property right trumps over the other.’ They can coexist. But it’s going to take a lot of effort to figure that out.”

Reporting Indigent Time

The Texas Indigent Defense Commission has launched a portal where criminal defense lawyers must report their work time on certain cases by Oct. 15. Because of a new state law, lawyers who take appointments to represent indigent criminal defendants must report the percentage of time that they dedicated to adult criminal cases and juvenile delinquency cases. The TIDC created a worksheet and instructions to help lawyers calculate their practice time percentages. There’s also a video with more information. From now on, lawyers must report this information each year. “In addition to this attorney reporting requirement, Texas counties will be required to report the number of appointments made to every attorney who accepts appointments in the county. When viewed together, the appointment information submitted by the county and the practice time information submitted by the attorney will provide an overview of the average amount of time an attorney allocated to the representation of each indigent client,” said the TIDC’s attorney reporting website. If lawyers fail to report their work time, a criminal court judge could assess a penalty, including “an attorney’s removal from the list of attorneys eligible to receive future court appointments,” said the website.

Lyons joins Ogletree Deakins